lc real estate 07 2020

ON PLACES

VACATIONING

Memorial honors early Angeleno’s path from slavery to freedom.

AUTO SHOW

Neighbors share their adventures past, and future plans.

Page 3

Gilmore Heritage event goes digital. Here, Willie Wallace with his 1955 Cadillac Coupe de Ville last year. Page 6

Page 4

Real Estate /Entertainment Libraries Home & Garden

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Section 2

LARCHMONT CHRONICLE

JULY 2020

HANCOCK PARK • WINDSOR SQUARE • FREMONT PLACE • GREATER WILSHIRE • MIRACLE MILE • PARK LA BREA • LARCHMONT

COLDWELL BANKER 356 S. Hudson | Hancock Park | $19,000,000

100 S. Beachwood Dr. | Hancock Park | $3,995,000.

SOLD! Off Market on prime Hudson. Represented buyer.

Tennis court property. Featured in Architectural Digest.

SOLD! Fab 4 Bed/3.5 Baths in main house; garage has guest room + ba over it & game rm w/wine cellar.

835 S. Longwood Ave. | Brookside | $2,750,000 Impeccably maintained in coveted Brookside. Fab backyard. 4Bd+3.5Ba. 835SLongwood.com

111 N. Irving Blvd. | Hancock Park | $2,350,000 Larchmont close! 3bed/3baths,bright family rm+den,gourmet kitchen,pool! approx 2644sqft

Lisa Hutchins 323.460.7626

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944 S. Longwood | Hancock Park | $1,849,000 Brookside Spanish w/ 4 large bedrooms, 3.5 bas, family rm & grassy yard w/ room for a pool.

531 N. Rossmore PH B | Hancock Park | $1,739,000 Contemporary 4+5 penthouse near Larchmont Village. 3,090 sq ft/AS. 531RossmorePH.com

606 N. Lucerne Blvd. | Hancock Park | $1,300,000 SOLD OVER ASKING! All Cash - 2 Weeks in Escrow - Represented Buyer and Seller.

531 N. Rossmore #405 | Hancock Park | $879,000 Desirable 2BD+2BA rear-facing unit with fantastic northwest views. 531NRossmore.com.

Sandy Boeck & Rick Llanos 323.687.6552 , 323.810.0828 CalRE# 01005153 , CalRE# 01123101

Loveland Carr Group 323.460.7606

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644 S. Rimpau Blvd. | Hancock Park | $17,000/MO Magnificent 5-6 Bd/ 4 Ba estate on approx 20,000 sqft lot w/ pool/spa. Available early August.

346 Westminster Ave. | Windsor Square | $4,500 /MO

427 N. Gardner St. | Hancock Park | $3,250/MO

Sweet 3+1.25 home w/ hardwood floors and newer appliances. Sweet backyard.

Spacious 2BD + 1BA apartment, wonderfully updated, new hardwood floors. Parking + central air.

6078 Pickford St. | Los Angeles | $2,700 / MO Lower Duplex. Two beds/one bath spacious & bright.

Hardwood floors. Crown molding. Appliances. Parking.

Lisa Hutchins 323.460.7626

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COLDWELLBANKERHOMES.COM Hancock Park 323.464.9272 | 251 N Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90004 The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification. Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Realty are independent contractor sales associates, not employees. ©2020 Coldwell Banker Realty. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Realty fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC CalBRE# 00616212

2

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Sacramento strikes back: with the many sons of failed SB50

There is a maxim in politics that states, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” a saying currently being amply exploited by our legislature in Sacramento. Under the cover of a global pandemic and civil unrest, once again State Sen. Scott Wiener, the maestro of failed SB 50, is trying to foist dodgy housing laws upon our communities in his crusade to end singlefamily housing in California.

This time he has partnered with Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins to push forward a package of five bills: SB 902, SB 995, SB 1085, SB 1120 and SB 1385.

For the historic communities of Greater Wilshire and Mid-City, these bills are a poisoned arrow pointed directly at the heart of the many hardwon protections and community values that have sustained our neighborhoods for decades. Our many Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs), National Register Historic Districts, and special planning zones and districts all come under fire in the drive for more density and more luxury housing, regardless of community input.

SB 902, which passed the State Senate on June 22, would, according to the “San

Francisco Business Journal,” “effectively remove singlefamily zoning in almost all jurisdictions.” The bill, which still needs concurrence from the State Assembly and the Governor, allows local governments to pass a zoning ordinance which is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for projects that allow up to 10 units, if the projects are located in transit- and jobs-rich areas (a yet-to-be-defined standard) or an urban infill site. There are no exemptions in the bill for HPOZs, special design or planning districts, or identified historic resources.

SB 995 would further streamline the CEQA process for projects that include at least 15 percent affordable housing as well as expand the use of the Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR) process to allow cities to pre-plan projects and thus prevent local opposition to future “environmental leadership projects.” That’s yet another end-run around local control.

SB 1085 attempts to enhance the current Density Bonus Law, increasing incentives in exchange for more affordable housing. One of these incentives is the removal

On Preservation by

Brian Curran

of language in the original law protecting historic resources, specifically those on the California Register. The original law itself has been criticized for producing loads of luxury units and very little affordable housing, but this bill does not fix that issue, thereby giving more to developers than they will ever give back.

SB 1385, of all of the bills of this package, is probably the best; however it is the least applicable to Los Angeles. This bill would allow residential development on land zoned for office and retail use, but the development must respect all existing regulations. The majority of “C”-zoned properties in Los Angeles already do not prohibit housing, and mixed-use developments (commercial with residential above) have been a part of the city’s planning fabric since the very beginning, including on Larchmont Blvd. If you want to support one bill, this would be it.

SB 1120, Wiener’s pièce de résistance, would streamline the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot in all non-historic residential areas. According to the advocacy group Livable California, adoption of SB 1120 would mean, “four units of luxury housing, or two McMansions, to replace single-family homes in more than 800 California municipalities, dispensing with [the need for] public hearings.” However, such development would be required to meet a list of qualifications that ensure protection of local zoning and design standards, local historic districts, environmental quality and existing tenants.

This means while Hancock Park, Windsor Village, Windsor Square, Wilshire Park and other local HPOZs may be excluded, neighborhoods such as Ridgewood-Wilton (a National Historic District), Citrus Square, Sycamore Square, Country Club Heights, La Brea-Hancock, Western-Wilton, etc. could see significant new luxury development under this proposed law.

So I urge you to contact your local councilmembers (who have no direct vote but

who can influence state legislators they know), and — especially — state Senators and Assemblymembers, plus local advocacy groups, to oppose these bills and to urge preserving local control over our local neighborhoods.

Sacramento and luxury housing developers are not letting a crisis go to waste.

Let’s not, either. Tell elected officials to vote NO. Local state representatives considering the bad housing bills are: East of the centerline of Plymouth Boulevard: State Senator Maria Elena Durazo District Office (213) 483-9300 State Assembly Member Miguel Santiago District Office (213) 620-4646 West of the centerline of Plymouth Boulevard: State Senator Benjamin Allen District Office (310) 318-6994 State Assembly Member Richard Bloom District Office (310) 450-0041

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

3

AME founder, former slave honored near Bradbury Building — site she once owned Tucked into the neighborhood of the Grand Central Market and the Bradbury Building, the memorial honoring Bridget “Biddy” Mason isn’t a place most people go to. Rather, it’s one they come upon. Set just off Spring Street, it’s a quiet space — at least relative to the bustle surrounding it.

The main feature of this small park created in 1990 by landscape architects Katherine Spitz and Pamela Burton is a timeline of Biddy Mason’s life — a life that started in Georgia in 1818 and ended in Los Angeles in 1891. The arc of her life stretched from slavery to freedom. The timeline by artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, an 80-foot-long poured concrete wall, is titled “Biddy Mason Time and Place.”

The crucial turn in Biddy’s life didn’t come easily or early.

Biddy was a slave of Robert Smith, a Mississippi man and Mormon convert who in 1848 joined a caravan that traveled 1,700 miles to the Salt Lake Valley. Biddy and other slaves walked every step behind the wagons. Smith, a perpetually unsettled sort, was soon on the road again — with his slaves — 500 miles further west to California. There he grew fearful that he couldn’t

On Books and Places by

Bruce Beiderwell keep his human “property,” so he planned yet another move, this time to Texas. Biddy, with help of a small — and free — Black community, refused to go along; she brought legal action. It wasn’t a quick or certain process, but in 1856 Bridget Mason, along with 13 other slaves owned by Smith, were granted freedom.

That history led of course to more history. Biddy gained employment as a skilled midwife and physician’s assistant, proved herself an astute businesswoman, helped establish the First AME Church in Los Angeles, and became a property owner of considerable substance.

The downtown memorial stands upon space Biddy owned at the time of her death.

By most accounts, she was the wealthiest African American woman living west of the Mississippi. By all accounts, she used her wealth generously.

It’s tempting to extend the

MEMORIAL honors life from slavery to freedom.

respect expressed by the Biddy Mason Memorial Park to Los Angeles more broadly. After all, it was here Biddy was freed from slavery and here she found opportunity. But the injustices she and others endured should not allow complacent civic self-congratulations. Although it entered the Union as a free state in 1850, California wasn’t then and hasn’t been since free of racism. The new state’s first Chief Justice, an ardent supporter of slavery, was to become an officer in the Confederate army. Legislative efforts early on to completely block Black immigration sent threatening

Photo by Jessica Hodgdon/L.A. Conservancy

signals to the Black people who were here. And whenever property was perceived as valuable, opportunities to buy property became decidedly exclusive.

Red-lining isn’t ancient history.

Discriminatory loan practices remain current news.

James Baldwin published “The Fire Next Time” in 1962, three years before Watts was afire. There have been many “next times” since. Los Angeles seems stuck in a generational pattern of unrest: 27 years after Watts, verdicts in the Rodney King trial relit dry timber. Another 28 years later, the murder of George Floyd ignited the

protests of the last month. The denial of reality Baldwin saw at the heart of racial injustice and source of racial anger seems on a national scale increasingly active, pernicious, and desperate.

Perhaps that makes the Biddy Mason Memorial all the more worth attention now — that is, if we pause to appreciate how the accomplishments it honors are still routinely, systematically, and oftentimes violently deferred. Baldwin’s essay still makes for sadly bracing reading that could accompany the visit. You can find it and other of Baldwin’s works at Chevalier’s.

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JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Larchmont Chronicle

Vacation dreams: Do we dare venture out into the world?

By Helene Seifer The world is beginning to reopen, and sequestered Los Angelenos are eager to jump back into some semblance of normalcy, but does that include travel to exotic climes? Some travelers report that airlines’ promised empty middle seats — for social-distancing — are not always empty, and that wearing masks, while advised, may not be mandatory. (Check with your carrier if you care!)

Cruise lines are experiencing an uptick in bookings, with Viking, for example, rolling out ocean and river voyages as early as September, even while health officials warn that continued coronavirus spikes might cause “no cruise” restrictions to be

GOVAN OLD PARISH CHURCH, Scotland.

DINING IN TUSCANY with Susana Hayman-Chaffee (fifth from left).

extended. Are people leaping into dream vacations with both feet — or merely dipping a toe into the travel waters?

This is Part 1 of a two-part report on locals’ vacation plans. Part II will be in August.

Susana Hayman-Chaffee Susana Hayman-Chaffee is skeptical that travel bookings will pick up any time soon.

The Brookside resident’s company La Vera Italy has been leading women’s tours to Tuscany and Puglia, Italy for 30 years. She remembers what happened after 9/11. “It took four years for traveling to resume. So, best case scenario now — it might be two years.”

Hayman-Chaffee cancelled her May tour and is now waiting to see when people are comfortable rescheduling. “It’s a long flight from California to Italy.

It feels very uncertain. No one is ready to commit.”

Would the itinerant traveler board a European flight herself? She’s not ready either.

“Countries are requiring a two-week quarantine, which might relax by the 15th of July, but everybody would feel more comfortable with a vaccine.”

Bauman family It seems like eons ago when the hardest part of booking a vacation was deciding which country to visit. Few travelers are ready to fly, let alone fly to Europe, such as in 2018 when Jill Bauman (nee Govan) and family traveled to her ancestral home of Govan, Scotland, now part of Glasgow. There they walked in the footsteps of her father’s forebears and visited the Govan Old Parish

JILL BAUMAN and son James (at left) in Govan, ancestral Scottish parish.

Church, which has been in operation since the 6th century.

The coronavirus certainly interfered with Bauman’s scheduled Scandinavian road trip this summer. She and her husband John had arranged to purchase a Volvo at the source, tour the countryside, and visit their daughter Isabelle, in Denmark on a Fulbright schol-

arship, before shipping their new car home. “None of my family except for me has seen the fjords in Norway,” Bauman exclaims. “It’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet.”

Instead, when the virus hit, the trip got cancelled, and Isabelle was forced to return to the family home in Windsor Village and quarantine for two weeks.

Bauman is busy rescheduling everything for next summer.

That doesn’t mean she isn’t engaging in low-risk jaunts now that things are beginning (Please turn to page 13)

Multiple sales so far in 2020 and still ready to help you sell or lease a property now.

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Day — A trusted name in Los Angeles since 1879

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Bob Day 323-821-4820 BobDay@coldwellbanker.com

Compass is a licensed real estate broker (01991628) in the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdraw without notice.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Gardening and forests give solace, hope and health benefits Across the country, plants are flying out the door of big box retailers and nurseries, and not just by the plant-andgarden experienced. Young people caught in COVID-19 lockdowns are discovering new friendships — with plants.

In Austin, my daughter, photojournalist Ilana PanichLinsman, is steadily at home for the first time in years. She has now grown from a person with a few plants into a bonafide plant fanatic. Her search for a pot of string of hearts, a semi-succulent from South Africa, led to the — ahem — rather cutthroat Facebook group, Austin Plant Community - Buy/Sell/Trade. She made a deal for three unrooted cuttings and the world’s smallest rooted plant. $20.

She met the seller in a parking lot for the hand-off. “It was like a drug deal,” she said.

Garden designer Libby Simon reports that the Lincoln Avenue Nursery in Pasadena is jammed, and that the wholesale FK Nursery has reopened, to the relief of Los Angeles garden professionals.

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Marianne Yamaguchi of Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery on Sawtelle, according to a report in the “Los Angeles Times,” has remained open on a limited basis, selling soil and plants over her fence with touchless pick-up.

Fabled Los Angeles plantsman Jimmy Williams, of Logan’s Garden in Silver Lake, which he owns and operates with his son, Logan, is quoted in the same “Times” piece that his phone hasn’t stopped ringing since March — people want to plant edibles now, a fact reiterated by many nursery owners, including Jo Anne and Alejandro Trigo, of the Mid-Wilshire Two Dog Organic Nursery, a source for certified organic vegetable plants.

“Sales have close to doubled,” Ms. Trigo reported to the Chronicle. “Ordering and production have never been this intense. At least half of our customers are new, and more than half of these are also new gardeners. Orders of 22 pallets of soil, compost, and worm castings are disappearing in two weeks — where it used to be a couple of months between orders.”

Plants make us feel better.

Plants give solace and comfort. We need them always, especially now. Growing things — yoking our labor to the

natural processes of our world — gives us hope, and eating the (literal) fruit of our labors is immensely satisfying.

Just looking at plants helps us. Research on the benefits of proximity to plants and trees is deep and wide. Forests and trees can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, help us focus, elevate mood, accelerate healing. Research abounds on the positive effect on our

immune systems of what the Japanese Ministry of Culture, Forestry and Fisheries named shinrin-yoku, forest bathing.

In a forest, people breathe in phytoncides (wood essential oils), airborne antibacterial chemicals that plants give off to protect themselves from insects. It is believed that these substances — in us — increase the number and activity of a type of white blood cells

5

called natural killer cells, or NK, according to a 2010 article in “Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.”

As to whether these beneficial effects are replicated when surrounded by our Western U.S. trees, I will let you know.

I am about to spend a couple of hours in New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains — but first, I’m off to water my two cherry tomato plants.

6

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Developer pledges $2 million to support diversity Lots of fun, learning to be Television City has pledged $2 million to help address community needs in its Fairfax District area. Half of the allotted funds will support local community organizations, businesses, and individuals, Hackman Capital Partners, owners of the media campus, said in a release.

“Television City has called this community home for nearly 70 years, and it pains us to see our neighbors, community organizations, and small businesses — many of which are trying to reopen their doors for the first time in over three months — suffer through these challenging times,” said Michael Hackman, founder and CEO of Hackman Capital Partners.

The company is also seeding $1 million to establish an educational endowment “to increase diversity and provide career opportunities in the entertainment industry. The endowment will work with local schools, production studios, and others to offer Black students and other underrepresented communities resources

had online at public libraries

TELEVISION CITY on Beverly Blvd. at Fairfax Ave.

to obtain mentorship, internships, scholarships, and education and onsite training.”

Designed by architect Wil-

liam Pereira, the complex opened in 1952. Shows range from “All in the Family” to “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

Gilmore Auto Show revs up — online

The library may still be closed, but there still is much to be found of interest at the Los Angeles Public Library, from online storytime to learning French to attending yoga and meditation classes in July.

The John C. Fremont branch will have a book club meeting Tues., July 14 at 8 p.m., a play reading Sat., July 18 at noon and a beginning French class on Wed., July 22 at 4 p.m.

The Fairfax branch library has Storytime for Babies and Toddlers Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

Memorial branch library is

holding online yoga and meditation classes on Mondays and Fridays at 10 a.m.

Don’t limit yourself to your local branch. Check out some of the other activities, such as creative writing workshops, a poetry open mic, drag queen literary trivia, crafting and design workshops, and more, all available from library branches throughout the Los Angeles Public Library system from the comfort of your home.

And don’t forget to register for the Summer Reading Challenge at lapl.org/summer.

Real Estate Sales

The Gilmore Heritage Auto Show goes digital this year, showcasing some of its favorite classics from past years of the event annually hosted by the Original Farmers Market. To see the short YouTube show, visit youtu.be/WqTxcGZj-zM. Left: CAR AFICIONADO Norman Ash displays his 1953 Cadillac El Dorado at last year’s Gilmore Heritage Auto Show.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

Boulevard stores gingerly step into reopening

By Sondi Toll Sepenuk In late June, as I spoke with storeowner after storeowner on Larchmont between Beverly Blvd. and First St. about their plans for operation throughout this COVID-19 summer, one theme seemed to dominate: “We’ll play it by ear.”

Many businesses have reopened with shortened hours, while some doors have remained closed. Back in late May, businesses were excited to open their doors for curbside pickup, delivery or takeout. But the protest demonstrations paused many stores’ reopening plans. Now, as summer settles in, shop owners are cautiously optimistic that they can continue “business as usual” on their shortened hours.

“Business is pretty steady and I think it’s going to

7

SECTION TWO

“People are anxious to get back out and shop at small businesses,” declares Kris-

ten Sato of Flicka Children’s Clothing. “There’s a lot of positivity and I’m very opti-

mistic… we’ve had some killer sales days since we’ve (Please turn to page 12)

944 S. Longwood Ave. — $1,849,000 Perched on a knoll stands this large 1920’s Spanish with a great floor plan in desirable Brookside. Step inside to the Spanish tiled entry with graceful staircase and views to most rooms. The large living room features hardwood floors and a decorative fireplace. A formal dining room also features hardwood floors and flows into the updated kitchen. There is a large bright family room overlooking the yard with lots of room for a pool. Upstairs there is a spacious master suite with 2 walk-in closets and a balcony plus 2 additional bedrooms each with their own bath and a bonus play room/4th bedroom. Lots of potential to make this your dream home.

PEOPLE are tired of ordering online, says Shopaholic’s Stacy Mitchell.

increase the more people feel comfortable going out again,” says stylist Stacy Mitchell of Shopaholic. “People come in and tell us, ‘I’m so glad you’re back open! I’m so tired of ordering online, waiting for it to arrive, trying it on, sending it back and having to deal with the shipping.’”

Shopaholic plans to remain open seven days per week, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Co-Listed with Sandy Boeck

Coming Soon Beautiful English home on the golf course with lots of charm and character. Second floor offers 4 Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms plus an office. Wonderful outdoor entertaining spaces with golf course views and a pool. Please contact me for more details.

Representing Buyers and Sellers in the Hancock Park/ Windsor Square neighborhoods for the past 26 years Hancock Park

251 N. Larchmont Blvd.

(323) 464-9272

ASSORTMENT OF MASKS in the window at Flicka Children’s Clothing. The store reports “killer sales” since reopening.

Helping You Stay Safer at Home During this uncertain time with the coronavirus, LADWP wants you to know that we are working 24/7 to keep your power on and water flowing.

Our crews will respond to water and power outages. Call us or report an outage online at ladwp.com/outages.

Your tap water is safe to drink. There is no need to buy bottled water. The coronavirus does not affect your drinking water.

Our team members are essential city workers continuing to work hard while taking safety measures.

Need help paying your bill? We can help.

Visit LADWP.com/financialassistance or call us at 1-800-DIAL-DWP.

We will not shut off your water and power for non-payment.

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Rick Llanos (C) 323-810-0828 (O) 323-460-7617 rllanos@coldwellbanker.com CalRE# 01123101

©LC0720

Coldwell Banker

The property information herein is derived from various sources that may include, but not be limited to, county records and the Multiple Listing Service, and it may include approximations. Although the information is believed to be accurate, it is not warranted and you should not rely upon it without personal verification.

Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are independent contractor agents and are not employees of the Company. ©2018 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Owned by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker, the Coldwell Banker Logo, Coldwell Banker Global Luxury and the Coldwell Banker Global Luxury logo service marks are registered or pending registrations owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

8

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Come Dine In with Us! JULIE BUXBAUM

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It clearly was a “locals” party, with the featured guests all being authors from nearby and about 200 total viewers gathered around Zoom screens to learn about suggested summer reading, for kids, teens and adults. Billed as a salute to our local bookstore, Chevalier’s Books, as it slowly reopens, the host and moderator was John August.

August is a novelist and screenwriter known for films including “Charlie’s Angels,” “Big Fish” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and for his novels featuring character Arlo Finch. The participating authors, in addition to August, were Stuart Gibbs, Leslie Margolis, Aline Brosh McKenna, Thomas Lennon, Sarah Mlynowski, Julie Buxbaum, Kayla Cagan and Julia Claiborne Johnson. Their selections and more information about the authors are at: chevaliersbooks.com/ local-authors-060620

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

9

Restaurants scramble to open safely On the Menu by

Helene Seifer iced teas (underscoring their confusion about how many people could share the meal).

A few items had to finish cooking at home. One was the beef short rib rice cake soup, which required boiling the pasta-like rice ovals before plopping them in the broth, and the meatlover’s creamy tomato kimchi pasta, whose quick-cooking noodles needed quick-cooking.

Scrumptious. Fun. Bold.

Appealing. So many ways to describe Chef/owner Yoonjim Hwang’s spunky fusion meal.

Just one issue: virtually everything was carb-heavy and vegetable scarce. Pastas, several rice treatments and decadent

cream-drenched mashed potatoes all marched across our palates. Although some vegetables did grace the offerings, the only non-starchy, veggieforward dish was the chilled cucumber salad — a welcome crunchy, spicy taste of health amidst the heavier foods.

Everything was delicious, however, with interesting, but somehow familiar, flavors.

Even the kimchi added a dash of umami rather than pungent funk. The short rib soup was one of our favorites. The chewy rice cakes, the fall-off-the-bone beef, the rich broth and bits of vegetables were as comforting as one could get and brimming with a taste of home — and not just a Korean home, either, but any home. I would guess families in every country have something like this soothing soup. Japchae was another winner. Chilies, thin cut carrots, scallions, rice, cellophane (Please turn to page 10)

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It’s a particularly strange time to be a restaurant. It’s equally strange to consider eating in one. Food establishments are allowed to open again, as long as they can keep patrons safe from exposure to the coronavirus. And that’s the problem. It’s easy enough to require that staff wear gloves and masks. Some have even outfitted their workers in spacey face shields. But not all restaurants can accommodate social distancing. A 10-top bistro can’t afford to cut back to only two tables six feet apart.

Communal tables, all the rage in 2019, are anathema now.

Tableside service is considered dangerous. An eatery going viral has a whole new meaning.

Some restaurants are renovating to increase distancing, adding sneeze guard-like partitions around tables, squeezing outside patios onto parking lots.

Even if all the safety recommendations are met, not everyone is ready to eat out. I’m not, for one. Luckily, most places are continuing their expanded takeout options; some have committed entirely to that model for the foreseeable future. When deciding whether or not to return to restaurant eating, remember that most places don’t regularly update their websites.

Instead, check their Instagram stories, Facebook page or Yelp.

Or remember that thing called a “telephone.”

To date, the tiny Spoon by H is staying pick-up only. The modern family-owned Korean strip mall café, made famous by restaurateur and media personality David Chang’s 2018 declaration that it was his restaurant of the year — posts a daily selection of savory and sweet items on Instagram. Call or text for dishes from the daily menu; order specials at exploretock. com. On Mondays they offer Dosirak, a $28 Korean lunch box for two with 20 or more tastes to share. Weekends try their $129 Family Dinner; every two weeks there’s a different configuration of dishes.

Spoon by H, on Beverly Blvd. just west of La Brea Ave., doesn’t use a delivery service.

Instead, they ask for your license plate number, make and color of your car. At your pick-up time, you drive up to the café, pop your trunk, and they’ll place your order inside.

When I called to make certain that the family dinner fed four, I was told that it depended on how hungry everyone was, that a really, really hungry person could eat the whole thing.

Honestly, even a still-growing teenager with a weed-induced case of the munchies couldn’t possibly finish all this.

Inside the bags and disposable plastic containers was a dazzling number of sharable items: eight dishes, three muffins and two different fruity

10

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Larchmont Chronicle

Dalai Lama, the scientist? Top-rated films from the past Dalai Lama — Scientist (8/10): 93 minutes. Who is the 14th Dalai Lama? This is a fascinating picture of a man who was chosen to lead Buddhists at the age of 5. What is amazing is the breadth of his knowledge and ability to converse with the smartest people in the world. This film includes engrossing dialogues he had with leading scientists throughout the world. The subjects include discussions on several genres: I Cosmology, quantum physics; II Quantum mechanics and physics; III Cognitive science/psychology; IV Neuroscience; and V Molecular biology and genetics, and the Dalai Lama holds his own with them all. The film compares Western science in all these things with Buddhist science. It might sound like a yawner, but it’s far from that; it’s interesting and informative. Prime $3.99

The Truth (La Vérité 7/10): 106 minutes. PG. French legends Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche highlight this typically personal French film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. Fabienne (Deneuve) is a 73-year-old star with a great reputation, who has just published her memoirs, which are, to say the least, frank.

Her semi-estranged daughter, Lumir (Binoche), comes to Paris from New York with her husband, second-rate TV star Hank (Ethan Hawke), to celebrate the release of the book.

Like most French films there’s a lot of realistic talk of relationships and life. In French and English. Opens July 3.

Return to Hardwick: Home of the 93rd Bombardment Group (6/10): 73 minutes.

Moderately entertaining, the 93rd Air Group of the 8th Air Force was arguably the most decorated and most effective

archival films of action scenes, but mostly it consists of interviews with the relatives. Prime $3.99.

At the Movies with

Tony Medley bomb group of WWII. Helping to cripple Hitler’s Europe from the air, they executed some of the most daring bombing raids in the war. Flying B-24 Liberators and B-17s when they were stationed in North Africa, they flew the disastrous raid on Ploesti in which 178 planes participated but only 88 returned. Produced, directed and edited by Michael Sellers and narrated

by Michael Cudlitz, this film concentrates mostly on relatives who return to Hardwick where they were stationed in England to honor their ancestors. The film has substantial

Frank Schiller 1926 - 2020

Frank Harry Schiller was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on March 13, 1926 and passed away in his home in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2020. He and his brother Gustav grew up in the depression years amidst luxury, prosperity, and wealth acquired by their father, business attorney Dr. Viktor Schiller, and their mother, athletic and vivacious Lilly Schiller. This was to change in the spring of 1938 when the Allied powers began negotiation over a part of Czechoslovakia demanded by Nazi Germany. That summer, Frank, his brother, mother, and grandmother sought refuge in Zurich, Switzerland. Following the so-called Munich settlement, in which the Allies announced “Peace for our Time,” the family returned to Prague.

Six months later, on his 13th birthday, Nazi Germany occupied the rest of the country.

Initially deprived of schooling, Frank was also forbidden to use city parks, and to ride on streetcars or attend school Yellow stars were required to be worn on their garments.

Finally, in October 1941, Frank, his brother Gustav, and parents were deported to the ghetto in Lodz, Poland. In Lodz, eight people confined to a single room over a barn. One by one, the adults died, including Viktor on 1 June 1942 and Lilly a year later.

In March 1944, Frank said goodbye to his brother, whom he never saw again, and volunteered to be transferred to labor camp. For 14 months of slave labor, he and friend Hanus Orlicky remained together from camp to camp, including Dora in the Harz mountains, where they worked on the V2 rockets intended for destruction of London and Washington. Finally, they reached their last stop, the scene of a war crime later prosecuted by the Americans at Nuremberg, the town

of Gardelegen where more than 1000 were burned to death. There, among the handful liberated by First Lt. Malcolm Armstrong, Frank was able to serve as a translator.

The next 11 years found Frank searching for a way to reconstruct his life. He remained in Prague until the Communist takeover in 1948 and then moved west from one city to another until 1956, when he arrived in Los Angeles. With training in Chemistry, he accepted a job as the Quality Control director for the soft drink company White Rock, later acquired by Coca-Cola Bottling. In 1964, he became Vice-President of Coca-Cola LA, and later oversaw the building of the new bottling plant on Central Avenue. In the meantime, he met his future wife of 61 years, Liesa, herself a Viennese-born daughter of refugees. Married in 1957, they had two children, raising their family in a home they lived in for over 50 years.

Frank happily retired from Coca-Cola at age 60. Frank and Liesa travelled to Palm Desert every other weekend, took cruises in summer, made land journeys, and many times journeyed back to Prague and Vienna, maintaining close contacts with the few who survived there. Their home for 56 years on Mansfield Avenue was the scene of nearly all their great lifecycle events. Frank served as a trustee of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, and on the Board of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, among other charities.

Although he never concealed his wartime experiences, Frank would not allow those experiences to define him, at least not until old age.

Frank was predeceased by his wife Liesa in 2018. He leaves daughter Vicki (Christina), son Gary (Maskit), and two grandsons, Aiden Jacob and Adam Gustav. May his memory be a blessing for all.

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Movies from 2006 to watch at home and where to access them: Apocalypto (10/10): This tension-filled, gory chase movie recreates what it must have been like in the 15th Century America rainforest as the Mayan Civilization was dying. The basic story is essentially a remake of Cornel Wilde’s “The Naked Prey,” (1966), although no credit is given. Writer (with Farhad Safinia)-Director Mel Gibson has done a masterful job of recreating pre-Columbian America. Despite the long running time, my attention never flagged. It starts out in the middle of the jungle in what appears to be a Garden of Eden situation. But you feel that this idyllic lifestyle isn’t long for the world, and it isn’t.

Included with Prime.

Blood Diamond (10/10): Leonardo DiCaprio joins the ranks of Bogey and Newman as screen anti-hero icons.

Director Edward Zwick has taken a first-rate script by Charles Leavitt and produced a high-energy, tension-filled tale that tells a story, along with educating people, about what is going on in the world.

Prime $2.99.

Invincible (10/10): The producers who all worked on “Miracle” (2004) have combined on this story, based on weekend warrior Vince Papale’s (Mark Wahlberg) attending a tryout for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976. It seemed ludicrous that someone like the 30-year-old Papale, who never played football in college, could make an NFL team, but that’s what happened. Prime $2.99 Nanny McPhee (10/10): From a start that grabbed me, an aerial shot zooming in on the house where the recently widowed Mr. Brown (Colin Firth) resides with his seven obstreperous children,

On the Menu

(Continued from page 9) noodles, aromatics — what’s not to love? Anything topped with egg draws my attention, and the braised beef and egg rice bowl did not disappoint.

Mix the sliced rounds of hardboiled egg and pickled onions into the rice, and the grains and beef suddenly marry. This dish was even better the next day.

Next time — and there will be a next time — I’ll try ordering off their daily a la carte menu. Spicy pork belly dumplings and mango shave ice, anyone?

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it just got better and better.

This isn’t some slow, predictable children’s movie. Based on the “Nurse Matilda” books

by Christianna Brand, this is an up-tempo film that doesn’t fade. Highlighted by wonderful music by Patrick Doyle, director Kirk Jones has kept the pace at a surprisingly high tempo for what most people will enter expecting a clichéd children’s movie, buttressed by an ill-advised ad campaign raising the specter of “Mary Poppins” (1964). But it’s not just a children’s movie. It’s not even close to the saccharine “Poppins.” Nanny McPhee’s (Emma Thompson, who also wrote the script) motto of “Behave or Beware” makes it more like the old time war movies in which a tough, decent drill sergeant, like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, takes over a group of feisty recruits and molds them into people who can take Mount Suribachi. STARZ with Prime Video Channels.

Stranger Than Fiction (8/10): Will Ferrell finally drops his buffoonery in this Kafkaesque adventure, highlighted by the performances of Ferrell and Emma Thompson. On Showtime with Prime Video Channels.

Recommended reading: A Single Spy (2017) by William Christie. Unique WWII spy novel.

Downtown city councilman José Huizar arrested

Council District 14 elected representative José Huizar was arrested June 23 on charges arising from an alleged pay-to-play scheme in which he pressured real estate developers to pay cash bribes, campaign donations, and other gifts in exchange for supporting their high-rise and other projects.

Prosecutors dubbed the case “Casino Loyale” after a tip that Huizar cashed in casino chips in Las Vegas that were traced to a developer that led to the investigation.

“José Huizar’s alleged crimes are stomach-turning.

Instead of serving the best interests of our City, Huizar chose to enrich himself. He must be removed from City Council,” said local Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, the day Huizar was arrested.

The Council voted 14-0 to suspend Huizar from office He was released on a $100,000 bond.

A preliminary hearing has been tentatively set for July 14, and an arraigment is also tentatively scheduled for July 20. If convicted, Huizar faces up to 20 years in prison.

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Time to bring anger in streets to theaters?

I had planned to focus this month’s column on summer Shakespeare festivals devastated by COVID-19. They are at great financial risk because their income is earned between May and September, with opportunity to make up ticket sales in the fall and winter. Theaters from the London Globe and Royal Shakespeare Company to our own local Shakespearean stalwarts — the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, the Griffith Park-based Independent Shakespeare Company, and the downtown Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles — have all been shuttered, resulting in pleas for funding.

I wrote in May that, from my home, I could “hear the protestors in front of Mayor Garcetti’s residence” demanding the Mayor “open up” the city, referring to the stay-athome orders then in effect.

In June, there were, as we all know, other demonstrations, fraught with higher stakes. It makes writing about the loss of a summer night’s Shakespeare seem trivial, if not obscene.

In another Chronicle column, I listed various “plague-related” plays, from “Oedipus Rex” to Peter Barnes’ “Red Noses.” (I probably should have included Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” too.) But what are the plays that address the current outrage? The fire in the streets; the rage and anger we are all feeling, with our Black and brown fellow citizens feeling ever so much more intensely — and, let’s face it, physically.

After the 1992 Rodney King riots, Anna Deavere Smith’s topical, if somewhat over-wrought, “Twilight” held sway. Broadway and regional theater have since had plays such as Susan Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog” (2001), “The Mxxxxxxxxxxx With a Hat” (2011) by Stephen Adly Guirgis, and Jeremy O’Harris’ “Slave Play” (which was on Broadway when the pandemic struck). Those plays all speak

to the tensions in American race relations (as does Bruce Norris’ riff on “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Clybourne Park”). And, of course, there is the 10-play “Pittsburgh Cycle” by August Wilson, chronicling decades of African-American life.

Theater Review

SCAFFOLDING is coming down, revealing windows, at the new Audrey Irmas Pavilion at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, east of the historic building.

by

Louis Fantasia

Photo by Gary Leonard, June 16, 2020

But how many of these plays — not to mention the hundreds more that have been developed and workshopped in writers’ groups and regional theater labs — speak to the anger in the streets? May I venture to say almost none? The anger in the streets has been missing in the theater for nearly 50 years. Who really wants to upset season ticket holders, or patrons paying hundreds of dollars for a seat? Even “Hamilton’s” attempt to democratize mind-blowing ticket prices still involved getting people to the theater, and not theater to the people. (In a bow to corporatism, or populism, or both, “Hamilton” airs on Disney+ streaming July 3.)

We have to go back to the 1930s Federal Theater Project — which, it must be remembered, was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for promoting racial integration and an anti-capitalist agenda — for the kind of theater I am looking for. In the 1960s and ’70s, the Living Theater, the Bread and Puppet Theater, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and others took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War and social injustice. Black writers such as Amiri Baraka (Leroy Jones), Adrienne Kennedy, Samm-Art Williams and Ntozake Shange found their voices on stage. American polit(Please turn to page 15)

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(Continued from page 7) reopened, and I really think people want to get out there and support their favorite local stores.”

Flicka plans to stay open this summer from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days per week.

Many retail stores are opting for similar shortened hours, mainly due to lack of evening foot traffic.

“Lunchtime seems busiest, but after lunch the street gets very, very quiet,” says Joane Pickett, owner of Pickett Fences.

Currently, Pickett Fences is operating store hours seven

days per week, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Summer hours,” considers Joane, “we’ll just have to take day-by-day.”

The uncertainty of the virus has forced the local businesses to stay on their toes.

“I’m not really sure what going forward will look like,” says Edie Frère, owner of Landis Gifts & Stationery. “When we closed, we did a lot of emailing and curbside pickup, stationery reorders and custom orders, like key chains and tote bags… but now that we’re open, we have a lot of cute, brand new stuff that people haven’t seen, so we’re happy that people are returning to the stores.”

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VILLAGE HEIGHTS “has weathered other storms” in its 14 years on the boulevard.

“People are taking baby steps to get back into the world and they’re really happy to be here,” agrees sales associate Doree Swinney. “As long as they take steps to protect themselves, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer, this will become [their] way of life for awhile.”

Landis Gifts & Stationery will stay open Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m.(ish) to 3:30 p.m.(ish), 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

A few doors down, Louis Eafalla of Village Heights feels the same.

“People are happy to have us back open,” he says. “I think we’re going to weather through this, so I hope people shop local and support local businesses. We’ve been here 14 years, we’ve weathered other storms and we’ll get through this one as well.”

Village Heights hours will (tentatively) be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and shoppers can find daily updates on both of the store’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

Landis Toy Store is currently operating store hours four days per week, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Summer hours may change, but for now the store will “wait and see,” says sales associate Camilla Henriques.

Over at Chevalier’s Books, the protest curfew forced the store to cut its hours short, but Theresa Le Phung men-

tions that since the protests, “there has been an exponential increase in customers’ interest in books about race and books by Black authors.

This has been a trend in bookselling we’re seeing all across the country, and Chevalier’s is working really hard to get these titles back in stock.”

Though things haven’t been easy for the bookstore during the shutdown, Chevalier’s has continued its virtual speaker series, including an upcoming July event featuring Amanda Brainerd, author of “Age of Consent,” in conversation with director/screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. Bookseller Le Phung wants her customers

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to know that “we are here, we are working now, more than ever, and we want you to read; to read books that comfort you and… challenge you. And most of all, we miss you!”

As for summer hours, Chevalier’s, like others, is taking a “wait-and-see” approach, although the store is open for pickup from Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“We don’t have a specific timeline for full reopening,” says Le Phung. “As things are changing week-to-week, dayto-day, we are doing our best to be adaptive, and our staff’s health and safety always come first and foremost. As of today, we are still doing our curbside pickup program.”

As the Larchmont Chronicle went to press, new stores were still in construction mode: Rothy’s Shoe Store, The FaceHaus for facials, and The Shade Store. According to Rothy’s PR Manager, Zoe Richards, Rothy’s does not have a secure opening date yet, “as [they] are still in the process of renovating.” The Facehaus, whose construction was delayed due to pandemic shutdown, was gave an opening timeline: “We can share we will be opening holiday 2020, and we can’t wait!” says Brooke Tenmer, VP of Marketing and Communications.

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

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Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

seph Glacier. Now, aside from getaways to their Idyllwild vacation home, the virus has thwarted many of her planned adventures. “I wanted to walk the Camino [Spain’s pilgrimage route]. It’s been on my bucket list.” She and friends had to defer that hike and are discussing rebooking for fall 2021. “We’ll start at Leon and walk 15 miles a day. … We’ll be on the road for 14 days and

ISABELLE BAUMAN relaxes at a Los Olivos, California, ranch.

Vacations

(Continued from page 4) to open. The CEO and president of Imagine LA, a nonprofit that helps the homeless, booked a cabin in Los Olivos, in rural Santa Ynez Valley, for a “girls’ weekend” with Isabelle and Isabelle’s cousin, Ellie Martino. They rented bikes, enjoyed the fresh air and engaged in social distancing cocktails with other family members staying elsewhere on the ranch. Jill plans a similar

SHARON LAWRENCE and husband Tom Apostle hike New Zealand glacier.

weekend with her husband and son James, plus a seaside retreat in San Diego or Carpinteria. Bauman explains that, for now, “We’re staying close to home.”

Apostle / Lawrence Travel plays an integral part in actress Sharon Lawrence’s personal and professional life. In fact, one of her favorite travel memories is when, early in their relationship, now-husband Dr. Tom Apostle flew to New Zealand to visit her on the set ANDALUSIA, SPAIN is the scene of a trip of the film “Atomic enjoyed by Sharon Lawrence (at right) and Twister” and they hiked the Franz Joher mom.

SECTION TWO

end in Santiago.”

An African adventure was also delayed. “[My husband and I] bought an African safari at a fundraiser for Cancer Centers of America. I’m not pushing to make that happen right now.”

First up on the travel horizon, Lawrence is scheduled to temporarily move to Atlanta to resume her role as Laura Van Kirk in “Dynasty.” She

13

will also travel to New Orleans to play Louise Garbeau in the Showtime series, “On Becoming a God in Central Florida.”

While in the South, Lawrence hopes to visit her mother and sometime travel companion Earlyn Sams Lawrence in North Carolina. Rather than risking air travel, she and her husband plan to drive crosscountry.

To be continued next month.

14

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

Double Penalty or Takeout or DSI? Best to know ambiguous bids

A pretty normal 14 HCP 1H opener. Here’s the bidding: West North East South

1H Dbl Rdbl* 2D P P Dbl P ? *10+ HCP, implies no fit What’s that? My partner,

who also is a teaching pro, and I had only played a few times and hadn’t established enough rapport to know what ambiguous bids mean. Is it penalty or takeout or DSI (Do Something Intelligent)? I’ve got a run of the mill 14 HCP opener, a seven-loser hand.

We’re vulnerable. Can we make 3NT? If we can make game we would have to set them four to get a good board (800 v. 600), which means we would have to take nine of the 13 tricks (in which event we could make 3NT). Was it worth the risk? If we only set

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Bridge Matters by

Grand Slam it three we only get 500 for a certain bottom board.

North was in one of the most unenviable positions in bridge in this auction. Almost by definition in an auction that goes as this one did; 1 of a suit, dbl, rdbl, the fourth hand can’t have much. Two players, opener and doubler, are pretty much promising opening hands, at least 12 HCP each and redouble is promising at least 10 HCP. That’s a minimum of 34 HCP, leaving fourth hand with a maximum of six, and probably less.

However when you find yourself in that position in fourth seat, you must bid if you have an unbid four card suit. Why? Because if you don’t bid and it is passed around to doubler, doubler has to guess what is in your hand. Where is your longest suit? You have to tell her immediately by bidding your unbid longest suit if it’s got at least four cards in it. If you pass, you are telling partner you don’t have an unbid four card suit but can support any unbid suit she bids, so she may freely bid her longest suit, confident that you have at least three of them.

Here are the four hands:

PLOTKE

Plumbing

North ♠ 54 ♥ Q954 ♦ 6542 ♣ Q74

West ♠ J982 ♥ AT ♦ QJ9 ♣ AT32

East ♠ KQT ♥ J8632 ♦ AKT ♣ J6

South ♠ A763 ♥ K7 ♦ 873 ♣ K985

Sitting North was a teaching pro playing with a student.

The student’s takeout double was dubious at best and this hand exemplifies why. When my partner redoubled, North was required to bid his longest unbid suit, but South should know he doesn’t have much, if anything. So he bid diamonds.

Have you decided yet what you would do? I had a tough call because I didn’t know exactly how strong partner was. We might be able to make 3N. If so, we would have to set them four doubled to get a good board. I decided to defend so passed my partner’s double, knowing that it was a top or bottom decision.

South, who got her partner into this mess can’t do anything but pass with her three little diamonds. It was their longest suit at 4-3 because the

other two suits were 4-2.

I figured that we had the bulk of the points and the only way they could make tricks was by ruffing, so I led the AKT of diamonds and we took the first three tricks. It was downhill from there on for North.

We took nine tricks (three diamonds, two spades [declarer got the Ace and a ruff with his fourth diamond], two hearts and two clubs) for down 4, doubled, 800 for us and a top board.

The hand was played 12 times, nine EW were in 3NT, making three and four; two made four spades, although only one bid it.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s to be careful with your takeout doubles. With only two quick tricks and only 10 HCP, that’s not a hand with which to make a takeout double in second seat because it puts partner on the horns of a dilemma if LHO redoubles, which happens a lot. And if you are playing against experienced players, they double low level contracts more than the average player.

After the hand was over I asked my partner what his double was. He looked at our 800 point score and said, “penalty.”

Grand Slam is the nom de plume for an author of a bestselling book on bridge, an ACBL accredited director and a Silver Life Master.

B Gaddy ElEctric since 1978.

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Here’s your hand sitting east, EW vulnerable and you are dealer: ♠ KQT

♥ J8632

♦ AKT

♣ J6

Larchmont Chronicle

JULY 2020

SECTION TWO

15

This popular condiment takes its name from an island port While making some tuna salad today I wondered, what’s the origin of “mayonnaise”? asks Sarah Peterson.

This all-purpose sauce, made of pepper, salt, oil, vinegar, egg yolks, etc., was invented by the Duc du Richelieu while he was admiral of the French Mediterranean Fleet during the mid-18th century. When the Duke succeeded in capturing the strategic Port Mahon on the island of Minorca, he demanded that the natives feed him upon landing. In the

ProfessorKnowIt-All Bill Bentley

absence of a prepared meal, he took whatever was brought and beat it up together — hence the original form of mahon-naise.

• • • Othello was called the

Theater review

“Moor of Venice.” What’s the origin of “Moor”? asks Jody Bernolfo.

The word is from the Greek and Latin Maurus — an inhabitant of Mauritania, which was the ancient name for what is now parts of Morocco and Algeria. By the Middle Ages, Europeans called all dark-skinned Mohammedans “Moors.”

• • • I’ve heard that a gallows is also called a “Gregorian tree.”

Does it have anything to do with all the Popes of that

POLICE BEAT

(Continued from page 11)

ical theater was, again, worthy of the name. But what has happened to that political voice?

Where is the political theater of today? It doesn’t exist. While there is a long list of complicated reasons, the short answer is people had to eat and theaters needed to pay the rent, so people took teaching jobs, or wrote for TV, etc. Most of even the best-intentioned theater (and theater training) today hardly rocks the boat, let alone the cradle (to borrow Mark Blitzstein’s title). It’s time to kick ourselves and our audiences out of our comfort zones and to blow the art form up!

ROBBERIES: Two male victims were walking to their vehicle, parked near the corner of Melrose and Van Ness avenues, when three men approached and began assaulting both victims, stealing a wallet before fleeing on June 17 at 5:20 a.m. A credit card from the stolen wallet was later used twice at a gas station.

A female victim was walk-

ing near the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Norton Avenue when a man passing by suddenly grabbed her necklace and ripped it off her neck before jumping into a get-away vehicle on June 16 at 6:15 p.m.

A male victim was walking near the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Second Street when he noticed a vehicle parked along the curb in front

name? ponders Steve Cole.

A good guess, but no. The gallows was named “Gregorian tree” because of Gregory Brandon and his son Richard (Young Gregory), who were the official executioners/hangmen of the British Crown from the time of James I to 1649. Their most famous victim was Charles I. Quite a trade for a father to pass down to his son, eh?

• • • My grandfather used to call wild geese flying overhead “Gabriel’s Hounds.” What’s

the origin? ponders Sydney Parker.

The cries of geese in flight is like that of a pack of hounds in full cry. Legend also has it that the geese are the souls of unbaptized children wandering through the air until the Archangel Gabriel calls them to Paradise on the Day of Judgment.

Professor Know-It-All is the nom de plume of Bill Bentley, who invites readers to try and stump him. Send your questions to willbent@prodigy.net.

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Bret Parsons Realtor® Founder & Executive Director, Architectural Division

Photography credit: Marco Franchina

16

310.497.5832 bret@bretparsons.com DRE 01418010

Aaron Montelongo Realtor® Estates Director

Larchmont Chronicle

“It was a real pleasure getting to know Aaron and Bret, and working with them on the sale of my home. They are friendly, extremely knowledgeable professionals who bring an informed, commonsense approach to the whole process. They were always there on the spot, going far above and beyond what I had come to expect from other realtors. I was particularly impressed that they, and never one of their associates, personally conducted showings. They really understood the property, and were able to present it in its best light. Most importantly, I consider them friends, whom I look forward to working with on my next project!”

Mr. Ian Wayne 1416 Bluebird Drive, Los Angeles

310.600.0288 aaronmontelongo@gmail.com DRE 01298036 Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. DRE 01866771. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate.